Boston City Council: The field for the at-large seats

Boston City Council at-large candidates are in the home stretch. November 7 marks election day with eight contenders vying for one of four at-large seats.

Among the pack are established incumbents.

“I often remind myself the enormous power that comes with being one of the 13 elected city council members and with that, you have to take that responsibility and respect it,” said at-large incumbent Erin Murphy.

Others are fresh faces looking to shake things up at City Hall.

“This is about Boston. The people who elected you, these temper tantrums, these outbursts need to really stop. People are clearly seeing that you’re not working for them,” said at-large candidate, Shawn Nelson.

Priorities vary with the ongoing situation at Mass and Cass a focal point.

“The immediate action would be to Section 35 people and then probably to build some type of contractual relationship with housing facilities outside of Boston,” said at-large candidate, Catherine Vitale.

Some candidates prioritize affordable housing.

“We have so many people who want to buy and become homeowners in the city where they grew up in the City of Boston, but can’t do so because it has become so cost prohibitive. We can do that if we build more housing and if we use more of our city owned land to build housing,” said at-large incumbent, Ruthzee Louijeune.

Citizen services and education are also among the key issues for candidates.

“Making sure that our schools improve and we upgrade them and we go green,” said at-large candidate, Clifton Braithwaite.

“That is the most important part of my job. I’ve passed 15 pieces of legislation but all people care about is whether I got them a lamp post that they’ve wanted for decades,” said at-large incumbent, Julia Mejia.

Both Henry Santana and Bridget Nee-Walsh are also running for an at-large seat but were unavailable for comment.

Election Day is November 7 with polls opening at 7 a.m. and closing that night at 8 p.m.